Wish I'd done it Sooner - or - the Best Summer Ever!!

This post is dedicated to all young moms out there!!

As many of you know, I have 6 kids.  

The youngest is now 16, but, I'm going to tell you a secret to a great summer with the kids home.  

This is something I wish someone had told me 27 years ago!  (But, they didn't and I learned the hard way.)

Several years ago, when I still had 4-5 at home and the youngest was about 8, I had a brilliant(for me) idea to make summers more enjoyable for all.

Here it is, in a nutshell:

During the weeks went we weren't traveling, etc., I wanted to have fun, but not let the house and chores go to pot during the summer.  

Plus, I wanted my kids to have goals, to have a sense of accomplishment, and also have fun.  After brainstorming with the kids on things they like to do, here's what we came up with:

Each day, rise before 8am.

Get chores done by 10:00 am (everyone had assigned daily chores)

10:00 - Group project

12:00 - lunch & clean up

Hanging out and being silly

This is where the girls learned to enjoy taking photos and videos of silly stuff!

1:00 - Read or hang out with friends

(They would make a goal of how many pages they wanted to read for the summer)

3:00 - swim or other activity

5:00 - start dinner (help mom cook)

6:30 - free time

We were pretty flexible - that's the secret to happy families I've discovered.  The times and activity weren't set in stone.

Then - the fun part - 

this is what we did during group project or hanging with friends - cuz friends were invited!

Monday - Cooking or sewing lesson

Tuesday - Scrapbooking

Wednesday - Library or a educational field trip

Thursday - craft project (Jewelry making was a hit)

Friday - hike and picnic lunch

Before we knew it, the summer would be over and we'd all be sad to have the fun end! 

Plus, we made some wonderful memories!

Memorial Day Wknd at the Ranch

There are a few places on this earth where I can go and just feel 'right'.

 
Heaton Ranch is that for me.

  I've been going since I was 12 yrs. old and it feels the same each time I go.  It's like all the jumbled up stuff in my life seems to kind of 'settle down'. 

My perspective changes and I regain my focus.

Even when there are lots of people up there, and some of them are cranky or ornery, if I tune that out, I can still feel that peace.

Waking up to the sun and the birds on a lazy morning, visiting and, yes, gossiping with family, cooking for the army, and taking a walk around the pond are all part of the fare. 

I treasure each moment I'm up there - on invitation from my fabulous cousins.  I savor each "hello, how are you", each hug, each smile, and each shy glance from a toddler long after I've left.
 

To my youngest girls who love for us to take them there - "I'm glad you do".  


To Jon and Amelia, who came up - rather reluctantly - "Thanks for coming - even tho it turned out to not be a shorter trip the next day due to the sink hole detour". 

To my dear Heaton family, who've adopted me and invited us each work day, THANK YOU a Million Trillion!!

I hope I can keep coming till I'm old(er) and gray(er).

Graduation Pics

Yay for Jay!!

 

She did it!  Graduation from High School!

Sitting on the stand as one of the Valedictorian

Fun hats

Jess has a soccer ball on her hat

There she is!!

Funny looking spectators!

Some of her awards and medals

Meli and Jon barely made it!

Proud parents

Samantha, Mary and a bit of Loren

Jess and her goalie coach!

The whole fam plus a picture of Daniel!

Way to go Jess!  What a gal!

Jessica Belle Stone - graduate of PVHS

Disclaimer:  this post if full of bragging about my daughter and how awesome she is!

Jessica graduated from high school this past week.  But it's all her other accomplishments that are so amazing.  I can't believe this girl is my daughter!  She is really awesome.  Really!

A list of her awards for 2010-2011:

Certificate of Recognition in the 2011 Utah Ambassadors of Music

UREA Youth leadership Representative

First Team Region 9 Honoree for Keeper in Girls Soccer

Wendy's High School Heisman award

Region 9 Academic All-Region for Soccer

PVHS Diamond Paw

Outstanding Performance award for French

PVHS Academic Letter

National Scholar/Athlete of the Year Award by US Army

UHSAA Academic All-State for Track & Field

Seminary Centennial Letter

Utah Scholar Award

High Honors at PVHS

PVHS Valedictorian

Wow!  I knew there were alot, but I didn't realize that there were so many. 

Now, a list of scholarships awarded thus far.

Regents Scholarship for $6000 by WCSD

Dixie Escalante Electric for $2000

University of Utah for $1000

Southern Utah University Presidential Scholarship for $4250

SUU Housing for $4000

She's still applying for scholarships as obviously, she won't be able to use all of the above.  She's decided to go to BYU Provo in the fall.  I'm sure going to miss her!
(Next - Graduation pics!!)

Montezuma's Revenge - I mean 'Castle'

 You know how you go on a trip, somewhere you've been before a hundred times, and you pass places that you think, "Sometime, I'm gonna stop there and check it out!"?

Well, that's what happened on Easter weekend.

We've been going to southern Arizona for YEARS!

And there's a few places along the way that we've thought it would be fun to stop at.

One of those is Montezuma's Castle.

They're Indian cliff ruins (which I am nearly fanatical about).

They were extremely cool.

 Plus, the area was just beautiful, down in the valley near the Verde river.

 Plus, it was a great photo op - great lighting and cute daughters and hubby.

 Definitely worth stopping for!!